This invention is directed to a toy which is used in conjunction with a self-propelled object. The toy includes a playing surface which can be used to re-direct the direction of movement of the object on the toy. Preferredly the playing surface is rotatably mounted on the toy such that the direction of movement of the object can be rotary displaced.
In U.S. application Ser. No. 198,799, a small toy object shaped as a ball and having feet projecting from the bottom thereof is disclosed. As described in the patent application, this object is capable of moving in somewhat of an erratic manner in a generally forward direction in a hopping-like motion. The toy so described in that referred to patent application is sold commercially and constitutes part of a toy known as Strolling Bowling.TM.. In this toy, the ball-like object is depicted as a bowling ball. A similar toy incorporates a similar ball-like object which has as its outside motif the motif of a golf ball. This toy is sold under the name Goof Around Golf.TM.. The ball-like object in the Goof Around Golf.TM. toy also moves in an erratic, hopping-like motion.
The erratic, hopping-like motion of the ball-like objects discussed in the previous paragraph is entertaining and interesting to watch. Because the objects move in a hopping-like motion, it is somewhat unpredictable as to exactly what path they will travel in moving over a surface. This lends interest and amusement to their use.
In both the Strolling Bowling.TM. and Goof Around Golf.TM. toys noted above, once the spring motor in the ball-like object has been wound and the ball-like object released on to a playing surface, it then negotiates that playing surface without further input from the user of the toy. Its movement on the playing surface is totally determined by the erratic, or random-like hopping movement which the object exhibits.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,291 describes a toy which is essentailly depicted as a city block having buildings with intersections and the like between the buildings. Located at strategic points on a playing surface are a number of cylinder like objects which can be raised by depressing a button attached to the toy. A self-propelled vehicle having a rotating disk on its bottom surface is made to travel over the surface of the toy. When the vehicle becomes located over one of the cylinders, the button can be depressed with the cylinder raising underneath the vehicle and catching under the spinning disk located on the bottom of the vehicle. This lifts the driving wheels of the vehicle free, such that the vehicle is no longer forwardly propelled. However, the spinning disk on the bottom of the vehicle engages the surface of the cylindrical member and rotates thereon, such that when the button is released and the cylindrical member descends back down into the playing surface, the object then becomes reoriented in a different direction on the playing surface and continues its travels under the power of its driving wheels.
It is considered that, because of the novel play value incorporated into the ball-like objects of the Goof Around Golf.TM. and Strolling Bowling.TM. type toys, additional toys incorporating these objects would provide for interesting and stimulating play. It is further considered that the idea expressed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,291, wherein the direction of a self-propelled toy can be changed, also could provide for stimulating play value, if incorporated into other toys. Thus, it is believed that a toy based on the erratic, hopping-like motions of the ball-like objects of the Goof Around Golf.TM. and Strolling Bowling.TM. toys, coupled with a direction changing mechanism would serve as an interesting, entertaining and delightful toy. The direction changing mechanism, however, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,291, is unsuitable for use in the ball-like toys disclosed above which move in hopping-like motions. The direction changing mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,291 incorporates the noted turning disk, which requires that the bottom of the self-propelled vehicle, essentially the area directly below its center of gravity, be unencumbered, such that the rotating disk can be located at this position. This is an impossible reality with respect to the ball-like objects as described above which move in a hopping-like motion, because they require that their center of gravity be located over pedestal-like supports which are movable with respect to the main body to produce the hopping-like motion. As such, the direction changing motion of U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,291 cannot be incorporated with the ball-like objects which move in a hopping-like motion of the class described above.